March 24, 2010 -
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has given its final ruling on
subsidies the European jet aircraft manufacturer, Airbus had received.

WTO ruled that the
European governments illegally subsidized Airbus, which allowed the
manufacturer to undercut its research and development costs resulting
and overtaking Boeing sales.

"Today's final
ruling puts any doubts to rest - launch aid is an illegal subsidy that
has cost America jobs, hurt our ability to
compete and damaged our overall economy," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,
said in a statement after being briefed.

Boeing issued
a statement following news reports quoting officials who indicated that
the United States
has prevailed on all of the major issues in the WTO's final decision,
which reaffirms its earlier interim decision, in the U.S. case against European subsidies
to Airbus.

"This is a powerful, landmark judgment and good news for aerospace
workers across
America
who for decades have had to compete against a heavily subsidized Airbus.
U.S. officials have estimated the commercial value to Airbus of all the
government launch aid subsidies it has received at more than $178
billion (in 2006 dollars).
Government subsidies have been used to support the creation of every
Airbus product, including the A330/A340, which received more than $5
billion in development aid, and the A380, which received $4 billion in
subsidies. Those and other European government subsidies to Airbus have
significantly distorted the global market for large commercial
airplanes, causing adverse effect to Boeing and costing America tens of
thousands of high-tech jobs.

"We appreciate the strong bipartisan efforts by both the executive and
legislative branches of the U.S.
government to right this wrong and ensure that America's aerospace workers get a
fair shake. Because of the U.S. government's undiminished resolve to end
illegal subsidies, this decision should level the competitive playing
field once and for all with Airbus, as well as set an important
precedent for other nations with aspirations to enter the commercial
airplane business.

"Airbus and its
sponsor governments continue to re-affirm their commitment to using
subsidized launch aid to fund the next Airbus airplane, the A350.We urge them to change course and fully comply with the WTO's
clear ruling.The WTO panel
has painstakingly and professionally reviewed all of the evidence that's
been presented the past four years. It is extremely important to
international trade and global economic growth that governments and
businesses abide by the WTO's rules. Markets, not parliaments, should
pick the winners in the global aerospace industry."

Airbus then
released a statement regarding WTO panel report, below is their
statement.

?70 percent of the US claims were rejected. The
European reimbursable loan mechanism is confirmed to be a legal and
compliant instrument of partnership between government and industry. The
Panel refused the US
request for remedies as legally inappropriate.

?Past loans were
found by the Panel to contain a certain element of subsidy, a finding we
will study. Possible future funding for the A350 is not affected in any
way by today's report. US attempts to include the A350 were specifically
rejected.

?Neither European
RLI nor any other measure has caused "material injury" to any US interest. This means that the
Panel has rejected the US
claims that European measure caused job losses or lost profits in the US aircraft
industry. Boeing claims of lost
US
jobs have now been judged and found to be false. Research grants have
been condemned as structurally non-compliant, with important
implications for the coming report on US subsidies to Boeing.

?These results are
in stark contrast to Boeing's enthusiastic expectations announced only
last night in a statement by the company. Airbus, the EU and the
MemberStates will closely
analyse today's ruling in advance of a possible review by the WTO
appellate body. Airbus expects the WTO to issue the report on Boeing
subsidies in June. Boeing's recent WTO enthusiasm is unlikely to survive
WTO confirmation that the B787 is the most highly subsidized aircraft
program in the history of aviation.

?Airbus expects
the WTO conflict to drag along for at least a few more years. As in all
other trade conflicts, resolution will finally only be found in
trans-Atlantic negotiations. Boeing's repeated rejection of European
offers for negotiation over years and again last night usurp the proper
role of the US Government and contradict the US
trans-Atlantic partnership with European nations.

?Airbus is the largest export customer of US aerospace. Over $10 billion
per year is invested in the US by Airbus.
That translates into ten thousands of jobs in a lot of cities all across America. In
fact, Airbus supports actually over 180,000 jobs in the US.